Camden International Film Festival

Bicentenario (plays with Of Memory and Debris) + Q+A With director Pablo Alvarez Mesa

Expired October 13, 2020 4:00 AM
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INTRODUCING CIFF LOVE LETTERS: Valentines day has come early! We’ve thought a lot this year about how we can build connections between audience members and filmmakers within a virtual space. One of the hardest things about this year for filmmakers, is that they have not been able to forge spontaneous connections with audiences and hear from them directly. If you’ve seen a film you have loved, click HERE to write a love letter to a filmmaker!

Bicentenario will screen virtually from October 2-12, 2020. This film will be only available to viewers in the United States.


On the 200th anniversary of Simon Bolivar’s liberation journey across Colombia, a whispering voice summons his spirit, which begins to wander amongst contemporary small towns’ parades and revolutionary cosplayers. The Liberator’s political mysticism reverberates through the chants, anthems, and various statues erected in his memory to reveal a series of social rituals that keep the legacy alive. Sifting through memory and remembrance, BICENTENARIO’s enthralling 16mm portraits reflect on the far-reaching consequences of the revolutionary’s lasting effects in the social and political unconscious. With an unnervingly subtle sound design, employing Electronic Voice Phenomenon methods, Pablo Alvarez Mesa’s mid-length film seeks to invoke--and perhaps exorcise--Bolivar’s legacy, questioning the doctrine and enigma of the lasting effects of political liberation. (MG)

  • Year
    2020
  • Runtime
    44 minutes
  • Language
    Spanish
  • Country
    Colombia, Canada
  • Premiere
    World Premiere
  • Director
    Pablo Alvarez Mesa
  • Producer
    Pablo Alvarez Mesa
  • Cinematographer
    Pablo Alvarez Mesa
  • Editor
    Pablo Alvarez Mesa
  • Music
    Christian Olsen, Galen Elfert